


Birthday Cakes

by abetternameneeded



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-26 15:09:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30107871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abetternameneeded/pseuds/abetternameneeded
Summary: Wish!hook makes Alice a birthday cake every year.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 6





	Birthday Cakes

He thought about the date. Something that he hadn't done much of in centuries. It'd been a year since the worst and best moments of his life had happened all in a course of a few hours of each other. He didn't blame his little girl for the sins of her...whatever you called her. She was no mother. She'd wanted to leave her infsnt for dead. Tried to get him to do the same. Alice was sort of able to eat solids. 

People did cake for these things, didn't they? He could bake, sort of. His cooking ability had had time to florish in his time caring for his young daughter. He baked her a cake, put a candle on it. Sang, she loved his singing and babbled right along with him. 

"Happy birthday!" She was two. And toddling around a bit. Occasioanlly getting far too close to injury for his liking. She ate the cake, a bit less messy than the year before. 

"I help!" His three yesr old. "Sure. Why not?" A bit odd for most people but not a problem. The messy dishes a problem for tommorow as they dig into their small cake. He'd lesrned how to make recipes smaller and work better for just the two of them. 

Four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. As she aged. Every year he made her a cake and made a deal out lf her birthday. Every year he worried more and more about her predictament and did anything he could to make it better. Gave her something to be excitrd about. That she could actually have. She didn't have friends, she couldn't. She couldn't go outside. She didn't get to have a normal childhood, so he found a way to make sure she got something close. 

Eleven. She would be eleven today. He'd been searching for a cure for close to a year. Blaming himself for close to a year. He couldn't check on her. He could 't go nesr the tower to knlw of shebwas there or not. He hoped she wasn't still trapped. It'd been bad enlugh ehen he'd been there to quiet her fears that she would always be stuck behind a barrier that while she couldn't see it unless she touched it, she knew it was there. To confort her when her favorite things reminded her that she was in a cage. To dry her tears when she thlught she deserved to be locked away for some wrong she didn't remeber. He didn't want to imagine how hard it had to be for her if she was still trapped and alone. With gothel's words tsunting her. 

It was an old habit but one he didn't intend to break. A small chcolate marmalde cake. A jones tradition for the last decade. Her fsvorite for whatever reason. For some reason the mlre he looked for a cure and came up shkrt the mlre his mind ran with dark thoughts. Gothel could have easily gone back amd harmed Alice, even killed her. And not ceebrating her birthday would make that a rwality in his mind. 

He baked the cake. Twelve, still no idea. Thirteen, Fourteen. He'd started to lose hope. His heart was corruptung jtself even away from Alice. Fifteen Sixteen Seventeen. Whispers kf a girl named Alice. But he wasn't sure it was her, and he still got into fights defineding a girl he may not even know. 

Eighteen. He made a cake, it was stsrting to become more of an act of mourning. 

Alice. Finally. He knew she was alive. Knew shebwas free. But he wasn't. They weren't. He backed away. It felt so wrong. He didn't know how long she'd been deprived of so much as another human's sound, he did knkw how long she'd been deprived of the comfrot his hugs seemed to bring her. And she thoight they were cured. They weren't. She ran. He didn't blame her. She could finally run from her problems, and actually get away from them. Not just end up five feet away from the issue frustrated that she couldn't get away from anything. But he'd go thrlugh that pain a thousand times over just to see her. Just to talk to her. 

Nineteen. No cure, but at least he knew she was free. Twenty and she met a girl. He hated thst she spent mlre time with robin than he could with Alice. But at least someone cared about her as much as he did. 

Year after year he made her a cake, robin started taking it to Alice. 

"What kind kf cake do you like, tilly?" 

"Cjoclate mamrlade." 

"Mine too, no one elese seems to." 

"Got a lot in common don't we detective, quite the puzzle." 

She was right. This girl he barely knew and he were suprisngly similar. Thry lijed the samw games, the same foods, had the same favorite movie that they both really thought made no sense. It was quite the puzzle. 

"Happy birthday, tilly." 

"You didn't have to do thst, detectice." 

"Wanted to, chcolate marmlade." 

"You remebered?" 

"Aye. Here." He passed her a plate. 

And then the curse was broken. But the poisoned heart was back. He kicked himself for not hugging Alice when he'd had the chance but reminded himself that could have been a problem. 

And finally they could be nesr each other again. 

He'd admit he may habe gone a bit overboard. The favt her and robin's apartment currently looked like a bakery was on him. 

Rlbin walked in, with a cake from.thr bakery. 

"What happened in here?" 

"Sorry, lass. Got a little excited."

"Im sure Alice will love this, but when she's bouncing off the walls because she ate half a bakery, i'm blaming you." 

Killian laughed. "You git a cake too." 

"Orsnge marmalde, not my thing." 

"Fair." 

Alice came home f rom.whatever it was she'd been doing, killian would rsther not have too many answers about that one and looked around. 

"Happy birthday!" Robin smiled a bit at Killian's antics. 

"Thanks." 

"So, is there real food in jere somewhere or did you just bake for the last week." 

"Called in some pizza it should be here in a few minutes." 

They ate their weight in sugar and Killian appreciated the fact he'd gotten his lottle starfish back, even jf she wasn't so little anymore.


End file.
